Camera Happy

I'm never going to lose any weight if I don't break off this love affair with food. It's pitiful!

Tried another magazine recipe last night. It started with fettucini.


Then I sauteed a few pieces of salmon. Took them out of the pan and added a bag of baby spinach and a bottle of roasted peppers.

Sauteed them in a little oil until the spinach was wilted.

Then I added the cooked fettucini, some balsamic vinaigrette, tossed it all and topped with the salmon.

I didn't love it.

In fact, I was leery to serve it to Mike. But my caveat (word-of-the-week) went unheeded, and he told me to bring it on, and low-in-the-hole, he loved it! Phew. I'd hate to have wasted all those ingredients.

After a trying but triumphant day of working on finances, literature, paperwork and taxes, I was not in the mood to spend any time in the kitchen, and we had some money left on a Visa gift card, so we hit the road and ended up at Freemason Abbey in Norfolk. It's a converted church, or, uh, abbey.

I told Flutterbug that I shouldn't have worn my tight jeans. She told me she didn't think there was a dress code there, and that she and Dad were wearing jeans.

I said, "Honey, I'm not worried about how I look. I'm just considering 'tummy-space.'" I went ahead and unbuttoned before we went in (had a long shirt on!). And by the time we got home, had to unzip a little, too...

I surreptitiously snapped pictures all evening, most of which came out blurry. I thought I was being sneaky, with the flash off and my finger covering the orange light on the front. After we left, as I was playing with the camera, I discovered that the light was shining right through my finger - evidently I was more of a beacon than a sneak.

This is my french onion soup - it looks disgusting, but it was yummy.

And this was my chicken and fruit salad. Scrumptious.

But again, this food fixation has got to stop. And there must be other stuff to write about...here we go - the police officer in this picture had a fancy gold bracelet on his wrist; seemed a little out of place. I wonder if he noticed my glowing orange finger when I snapped the (multiple) pics of him.

When Flutterbug was seven or eight years old, the police pulled a vehicle over right in front of our house. We had a pretty small front yard and a good view of the goings on. The officer made the man get out of the car and walk a line, and touch his nose, so I grabbed the camera and we peeked out Flutterbug's window and I snapped a pic. FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE FLASH. We hit the floor shrieking, and elbow-crawled out of the room. That photo was pinned to Flutterbug's bulletin board for the next couple of years...ah, memories.

A few years ago, we were walking behind a couple of clowns (literally) and I thought it would make a neat picture. Tried to get closer before I snapped the pic. I should have just zoomed in; wouldn't ya know, they turned around right when I clicked the shutter.

Then there was the time Flutterbug and I stopped in Washington D.C. to explore, on our way to New Hampshire. We saw the Pentagon in the distance and drove into the parking lot where I hopped out of the car and snapped several pictures. Who knew that was frowned upon? A security vehicle zoomed up and a man jumped out and filled us in. He said he normally had to confiscate the camera but that he'd let it go this time. Poor Flutterbug was mortified. I, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing, which didn't help her at all.

We once walked past a newscaster about a dozen times, while he was waiting to go on air (he was sitting on the ground, leaning against a building, and typing away on his laptop), trying to get a clear photo of him. I have it here somewhere, with Flutterbug in the foreground, casually looking off into the distance, as if we were not aware of his presence. If I didn't take so many hundreds of silly pictures I'd be able to locate it....

Mike and Flutterbug got me a teeny little video camera for Christmas. I don't know what on earth they expected, but I've got enough footage to blackmail every family member and the neighbors (through the window!) and half the church congregation - it's the best gift I've ever gotten! Well, it's just below any and all food gifts, of course.